Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Blues boss full of praise for Messi
LIONEL Messi was lauded by Antonio Conte after p u n i s h i n g C h e l s e a ’s mistakes to send Barcelona through to the Champions League quarter-finals.
Conte took the opportunity to compliment Messi in person after the Argentina playmaker scored twice and made another for Ousmane Dembele in a 3-0 win which secured a 4-1 aggregate success for Barca.
“When you have t he opportunity to make a great compliment t o Messi, I think it’s right,” Conte said.
“We are talking about an extraordinary player, the best in the world. I think we are talking about the player that can move the final result for every team that he’s playing for.This type of player, (there is) one player born in 50 years.”
Messi struck after 126 seconds, netting through the l egs of the hapless Thibaut Courtois, and struck his 100th Champions League goal, again through the Chelsea goalkeeper’s legs.
Conte described the start as “terrible”, but was pleased with the response.
He also complimented his players, while feeling aggrieved his side were not awarded a penalty for a Gerard Pique challenge on Alonso when 2-0 down.
“There was a penalty on Alonso at the start of the second half,” Conte added.
“If you score (to make it) 2-1 you can put a bit of pressure on Barcelona. At the end, I must be pleased for the commitment of my players. They gave everything. We have t o continue this in this way, with this will to fight, with this desire to play together.”